Natalie and Conner

How We Met

Conner and I met in the 7th grade in our Spanish class, but we didn’t really get to know each other until our freshman year of high school. We had World Geography class together and throughout the course of the year we became better and better friends. Around the end of that year he asked me to go see the first Hunger Games movie with him. We went with a few friends and because I was 14 years old, I got really excited when he put his arm around me during the movie. A few weeks later, he went to a local fair with my family and I. We rode rides, he played games to win me stuffed animals, and at the end of the night he asked me to be his girlfriend. That was on April 16, 2012 and I have only grown to love him more every day since.

how they asked

Conner and I are both very close with each other’s families. We are especially close with his older sister Kaitlyn and her husband Steven. Kaitlyn and Steven got engaged in September of 2016. Conner and I have known we were going to be together forever for a long time now, but we were getting older and he decided to ask my parents permission to ask my hand in marriage in October of 2016. Once Kaitlyn and Steven heard that Conner was ready to propose they started helping him brainstorm ideas. Kaitlyn had the idea to do it at her and Steven’s wedding.

She planned to pretend to throw the bouquet, but instead turn and hand it to me (Conner and I were both in the wedding party). Conner loved the idea and took them up on their amazing and selfless offer to include us in their special day.

A few months before this, my grandmother had given me her original engagement ring from when my grandfather first proposed to her. I had mentioned to Conner that I would like him to use her ring, but that the decision would be totally up to him. He got the ring from my parents and had it cleaned so it would look shiny and brand new for the proposal.

The day of the wedding came, and I was already so filled with happiness at seeing two of my best friends get married. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The bouquet toss came and all the single girls lined up in hopes of catching it. Right when the countdown started I noticed the the bouquet toss would be right in the line of the chandelier and I tried to get Kaitlyn to stop.

Little did I know, there would be no toss at all. She turned around and handed me the bouquet, Conner walked up to me with our song “A Woman Like You” by Lee Brice playing in the background, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him.

I was so surprised and happy all I could do was cry and laugh and smile and he had to ask me if all of that meant yes. Of course, I said yes! It was more incredible than I ever could have imagined. His whole family was there as were my parents, little sister, and my grandmother (the one who gave me the ring). I will forever be grateful to all of them for making this happen and I cannot wait to marry my best friend.